Tunnel vision hurts backers of flawed Meech Lake accord

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While Canada's First Nations are left in the wings, the courtship of Quebec continues.

Politicians are panicking at the prospect the Meech Lake Accord won't be ratified by the June 23 deadline.

They suffer from incurable tunnel vision and are refusing to accept the accord is fatally flawed and should be trashed.

The Meech Lake accord would recognize Quebec as a distinct society, paving the way for Quebec to sign the 1982 Constitution Act.

"In all my years in politics, I have never been so concerned about the future of my country," solemnly declared former Progressive Conservative leader Robert Stanfield.

We're warned Canada is perched on the brink of a constitutional crisis.

Ordinary Canadians aren't nearly as concerned. Only seven per cent of those polled for a recent Maclean's/Decima survey identified Mech Lake or national unity as the most important issue facing the country.

The reason is obvious; they live in the real world and not in an ivory tower in Ottawa.

A tiresome central Canadian issue continues to get played out in central Canada while the concerns of Natives, women and the territories, who are forgotten in the Meech Lake Accord, go unaddressed.

Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and provincial premiers representing the Second and Third Nations (the English and French respectively) bend over backwards to get Meech approved, but callously ignore the real and day-to-day concerns of First Nations.

Mulroney and the premiers supporting Meech have two sets of standards, rightly observes Georges Erasmus, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations. They have one set for themselves and another for aboriginal people.

Mulroney's position is "extremely racist," he declares.

In Drum Beat, a recently released book dealing with the major battles by Indians in the 1980s for justice, Erasmus deals at length with the flawed Meech Lake agreement and the flawed process which lead to it.

"Quebec could be recognized as a distinct society, but not, apparently, the First Nations who were here long before any Quebecers or any Europeans set foot on the continent. We, too, have our own languages, our own cultures, our own ways of life. How, one might ask, could we be more distinct than we are?" writes Erasmus.

He traces the many confrontations in Indian country since early 1987 to the drafting of the accord.

Canada's First Nations became frustrated Ottawa was prepared to make major concessions to Quebec and the other provinces to reach an agreement, but wasn't willing to make the same kind of concessions to Natives.

"Our people have been relegated to the lowest rung on the ladder of Canadian society, suffer the worst conditions of life, the lowest incomes, the poorest education and health and can envision only the most depressing futures for our children," says Erasmus.

Meantime, provincial and federal politicians go their merry way believing they can have meaningful constitutional change without the involvement of First Nations.

Those First Nations were given a "contemptuous brush-off," by Mulroney and the premiers who completely shut out and ignored Natives in the Meech Lake Accord, says Erasmus.

Mulroney hypocritically committed to enlarge the role of Quebec within Confederation while telling First Nations to take a number and to get in line, according to Erasmus.

Erasmus is pinning his hopes for changes to the accord on the premiers opposed to Meech.

"We have no doubt about our continued survival, far into the future. We have always been here. We are not going anywhere. And the Canadian political system eventually will have to treat us as a permanent, and important part, of this country," Says Erasmus.

When Meech fails, let's hope Mulroney gets the message. There are other issues of national importance, like aboriginal rights, which have to be dealt with.

Sadly, the perceived constitutional crisis is likely to have the reverse effect--more attention will be paid to Quebec and whether it takes its marbls and go home.

Shame.